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At the forum, IBM's Stanley S. Litow, the company's vice president of Corporate Citizenship & Corporate Affairs, discussed the size, scope and longevity of IBM's Corporate Service Corps. IBM's Corporate Service Corps deploys IBM's employees in teams of between 10 and 15 people to provide pro bono consulting services to local government, businesses, schools and not for profits -- mostly in the developing world and growth markets.

The initiative deploys IBM employees from around the world with expertise in technology, scientific research, marketing, finance, human resources, law, and economic development. Issues they address range from economic development, energy and transportation, to education and health care. The program deploys only 500 of IBM's highest performers annually from among thousands of applicants.

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Moreover, IBM said that by the end of this year approximately 2,400 IBM employees based in 52 countries will have been dispatched on more than 187 Corporate Service Corps engagements, and undertaken 850 team assignments in 34 countries since the founding of the program five years ago, in 2008. Since that time, Corporate Service Corps has provided more than $70 million worth of skilled, pro bono consulting services and has directly benefited 140,000 people. Over the last five years, the program has sent more than 638 employees on 56 teams to 11 countries in Africa alone, a growing market for IBM.

IBM typically deploys teams several times per month. In fact, IBM said next week IBM Corporate Service Corps teams will begin work in Russia and Kenya. Meanwhile, teams in China, Morocco and Nigeria are finishing assignments this week.

Among some of the corps’ accomplishments during its five-year existence, an IBM team helped the Cross River province of Nigeria design a program to provide financial, healthcare and literacy assistance to poor women and children. In Brazil, IBM's advice enabled a network of dozens of children's hospitals and youth centers to become more efficient. In Vietnam, an IBM Corporate Service Corps team helped a travel agency increase its business and offer more services to clients. And in South Africa, a financial services agency is now making consumer loans with better repayment rates thanks to IBM advice, the company said.